Muppet Wiki:Article Naming
Muppet Wiki Policy maintains to avoid the creation of a character name for the purpose of an article title whenever possible. This page is meant to serve as a guideline to rational application of naming conventions beyond a reasonable doubt. Characters Unnamed Characters There are many characters that exist in Muppetdom that don't have official names or titles. Some of the official names for characters are more titles then traditional names, such as The Swedish Chef, The Newsman and even Grouch Cop. But those titles have sources (such as on film, production credits, merchandise and other publications). However, what we want to do is prevent non-official unsourced names from being adopted by the fan community, especially when it involves a certain subjectivity or arbitrariness. A character such as Palace Guard may as well have been named "Royal Guardsman," "The Guard" or "Guardsman." When a character's official name is unable to be cited, a discussion should take place on Name That Puppet before the page is created – this could uncover an official title, lead to a pre-existing page for that character, or create a title that is unbiased and not misleading. Character pages with names that, in essence, we've created should include the "Unnamed Characters" category tag in order to flag the name as "unofficial." If later on a citable name is uncovered, the tag can be lifted and the page moved. Err on the side of being conservative, yet accurate. An unnamed purple monster who plays a librarian should hold a name such as "librarian" or, if needed, "librarian (monster)" rather than "Monster Librarian," "Purple Librarian Monster," "Ugly Librarian" or even "The Librarian," Avoid unneeded descriptors in the title or the use of the prefix "The," as these tend to skew the title towards being interpreted as a proper or official name, rather then a self prescribed title applied by us (the exceptions to the "The" rule include band names, nobility or other characters of citable sources). It is also important to note in the article that the character is unnamed, so as not to imply that "Messenger" is their official title. :Example: An unnamed Anything Muppet played the role of a '''messenger' in the story, "The King and His Problem"...'' Name Descriptors and Titles Take for example the name of Kermit the Frog (which is the official title and name of Kermit, and has been used in tons of official works). Kermit's official name included "the Frog". However simply attaching "the Frog" to Bill, calling him "Bill the Frog" because he is a frog, changes the use of "the Frog" to a mere descriptor rather than its original use as part of a character's actual name. In Bill's case, his "real name" could be "Bill the Frog" (like Kermit) but it could also be "Bill Frog" (similar to Fozzie Bear), or it could be "Bill Finkelstein," or just plain "Bill." Since there are no sources for his full name being "Bill the Frog," we shouldn't assume things and change the character's name to fit our needs. The character should be titled "Bill" (the fact that he is a frog can be discussed in the article itself). If we would not rename characters to "Beaker the Lab Assistant" or "Fozzie Bear the Bear," we should not arbitrarily rename minor characters based on their roles, jobs, species or physical appearances. If another character exists with the same name, a disambiguation label can be placed in parenthesis. To differentiate him from the elephant of the same name, Seymour should be titled Seymour (turtle) rather than renaming the character "Seymour the Turtle" or "Seymour Turtle." Our goal is to not rename or misrepresent a character's name. It is always better to title a character "Fred" (or "Fred (the king)" if needed) rather than create the name "Fred the King" or "King Fred" if there are no sources to back up those labels. Relationships Many Muppet relatives have appeared (or been mentioned) that we don't have names for. We give relatives names based on their relation to others (i.e. Fozzie's Uncle where he's only referred to as "my uncle" by Fozzie or "your uncle" by Kermit). For a character such as Herry's Mother (could be called "Mrs. Monster," "Herry's Ma," " Herry's Mom," " Herry's Mommy," "Mother Monster"…). Unless there is official documentation for their name (such as Emily Bear, Grover's Mommy, or Daddy Snuffle) then we use the naming convention of being so-and-so's whatever (like Elmo's Mom, Cookie Monster's Sister or Fozzie's Uncle). Our current naming conventions use the full (and more formal) Mother, Father, Brother, Aunt, Grandmother, Dog... (unless we have proof of the character being Mommy, Pa, Bro, Auntie, Grandma, Doggy or whatever). Caricatures There have been several Muppets created as specific Muppet caricatures of individuals people (such as Juliet Prowse). Many times these characters are unnamed, or referred to by the name of their real-world counterpart (such as George Lucas, Woody Allen, and Tom Cruise). Our current naming conventions allow us to name them "Person Caricaturized Muppet" (such as Tim Curry Muppet or Paul Williams Muppet). This only applies to true caricaturized Muppets and should not be used for characters that coincidentally looks similar to someone or for non-caricaturized parodies based on a person. Character Spelling In general, print sources for the spelling of character names (credits, merchandise, books) are preferred. If a character is adapted from a pre-existing work, the spelling in the source text is acceptable and preferred over common fan spellings (such as "Billy Joe Jive" to "Billy Jo Jive"). Phonetic spellings should be compared to on-screen credits, as the ear can be misleading, particularly if common real-life naming conventions support the screen credit ("Audrey Molehill" versus "Aubrey Molehill"). This particularly applies to international co-productions and other shows that may use different spellings ("Elmonoske" versus "Elmonosuke"). However, while accent marks are encouraged, cyrillic and other alphabet languages are discouraged for the main title, but may be included within the article. Sometimes minor, obscure, or one-time characters will necessitate phonetic spelling. In those cases, it's advisable to follow standard naming conventions in real life, or if uncertain, start a discussion on that article's talk page. In general, except in cases of an obvious typo, clearly misspelled name, or where an official source can be quickly cited in the edit summary, discussion on talk pages is encouraged, to avoid sudden character renamings of "Chermit the Frog" and so forth. Characters with Multiple Names Some minor characters may undergo name changes, especially when they were small parts and the name was in a piece of one-time throw-away dialog or as part of a gag or song lyric. (This is different from a recycled puppet, where it is the same puppet, but a different character - such as Jacques Roach and Yves St. La Roache). In the case of a "Same Character, Multiple Names" the most commonly used or popularized title should be used. If there is any doubt on what the title should be, discussion should be brought on the article's talk page as to what the character page should be title. The other names should also be noted on the page, as they are valued bits of information, and redirect pages could be set up if appropriate. Example of this phenomena include: Maurice Monster who has gone by Maurice, Kermit the Gorf, Elmo Mondiporg and other names. As well as Mr. Johnson who has been titled Mr. Johnson, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Blue in the past. Character Disambiguation * For some characters with the same name, the most prominently used example remains without disambiguation (based on a major regular or recurring character versus a one-shot, a movie character versus a book character, and so on). Examples include Dorothy the goldfish compared with Dorothy (disambiguation), Bernie the oft-mentioned but unseen agent in countless productions compared to Bernie (disambiguation), and of course Kermit (disambiguation) compared to Kermit the Frog. * In other cases, however, where the examples are too numerous or the characters are of relatively equal prominence, the preferred disambiguation is by project title, and any "The" usage omitted for simplification, and sometimes titles are shortened in these cases: Benny (Muppet Show) versus Benny (Sesame Street). In others, disambiguation is made by type: (animated) versus (puppet) or (human); or by species or occupation: Stan (policeman) and Stan (turkey). This should be reserved for when either multiple characters within the same show/universe have the exact same name (Billy (Anything Muppet) and Billy (monster)), when they don't fall into clear categorization by project (Fred (monster), or the title or appearance is too awkward to cite (such as a variety show or talk show appearance, an illustration in Muppet Magazine, or a web short). * See also Muppet Wiki:Article Naming Conventions for more character name guidelines. Merchandise These are the naming conventions we've been gradually moving to for the last six months or so. There are still lots of pages that need to be cleaned up to fit this convention, so if you see counter-examples, then that doesn't mean the convention is wrong -- it just means that those are pages that should be fixed. * If the product has an official name, then it's listed under that name. The capitalization follows the spelling on the packaging. Examples: Scoot Along Slimey Rider, The Very Fashionable Miss Piggy Card Game. * For products that don't have an official name, or a page that collects several products in a gallery, the title is Show/franchise + type of product. Examples: Muppet keys, Sesame Street needlecraft kits, Fraggle Rock stationery set. * The type of product isn't capitalized, unless it includes a word that's usually capitalized. Examples: Fraggle Rock Christmas ornament, Muppet View-Master reels. * If the same type of product was made by several companies, then the company name is used in parentheses to disambiguate. Examples: Sesame Street cookie jars (Applause), Sesame Street cookie jars (Enesco). If only one company has made a certain type of product, then you don't need to disambiguate -- as in the Muppet keys example above. * Defaultsorts: The page should be listed in a category under the page title, even if it begins with the name of the show or franchise. Sesame Street Christmas Decorations shows how this works -- Bubble Blowing Elmo is listed under B; Sesame Street Christmas ornaments (Lenox) is listed under S. If the title includes parentheses or a mix of capital and lower-case, then there should be a defaultsort tag like this: __NOWYSIWYG__ . Disambiguation Category:Disambiguation is common practice when two or more articles have the same or confusingly similar titles. This often applies most to productions which spawned spin-off media or merchandise, such as books, video games, comics, or albums, but with the same title. Usually in these cases, if one is clearly the primary and most searched for article (i.e. The Muppet Movie, Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street), no disambiguation is made on those titles, and variants are either handled through a "see also" at the top or a specific disambig page is created to list all the variations. Movies ;For single films, use (film): :Nashville (film), Henson (film), Rat (film), The Seven Deadly Sins (film), Die Muppets (film), Independence Day (film), Gone with the Wind (film), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (film), Where the Wild Things Are (film), Dr. Dolittle (film), Alice in Wonderland (film), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film), ;For film series, use (movies): :Rocky (movies), Alien (movies) ;Exceptions: :The Muppets (2011) (chosen for SEO) Television Shows ;For multi-episode television series, use (series): :The Doozers (series), Postcards (series), Community (series), Arrested Development (series), Snow White (series), Dog City (series), Sesame Street Unpaved (series), 123 Sesame Street (series), Mad (series), Friends (series), Al Roker (series), Cher (series) ;For one-time television specials, use (special): :Free to Be... a Family (special), Sesamstraat is Jarig (special), Put Down the Duckie (special), Dog City (special), Elmo Saves Christmas (special), A Rosie Christmas (special) Misc * Capitalizing foreign language titles (CE discussion) * Initials spacing (CE discussion) * Some articles of the same name may show favor to the most prominent occurrence of that name such as The Muppet Movie in contrast to The Muppet Movie (video) or The Muppet Movie (soundtrack). Another example would be Dorothy compared with Dorothy (disambiguation). * Article titles don't need to be described with additional phrases in parentheses unless they're being disambiguated from another article of the same name. __NOWYSIWYG__ Category:Policies and Guidelines